Waverly
by AmberKog
Summary: When InuYasha and the gang meet a mermaid, they realize something they had never even thought of before. When Naraku gets involved, things get crazy. Kouga may have found a new love, but how will that work? I'm bad at summaries. This story is still in the beginning stages. Opinions on ways to go with it are welcome. I plan on introducing Kouga in a later chapter.
1. Chapter 1 - Gifts

Waverly

Authors Note:

Hey everyone, I'm back! So I just got married last month and my sister is getting married in just two months! So my life has been crazy! My husband and I are now trying to conceive and I'm a full time student so I'm limited on time. Writing is a way for me to relieve stress and kind of escape for a while, I'm not an English major so I'm sorry if my writing isn't too great. I'm not sure where I'm going with this story quite yet so if you all have some suggestions I'd love to hear them. I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters. This is a fan made story for the sole purpose of entertainment for no profit.

 _Chapter One – Gifts_

Kagome walked through the forest taking in the cool breeze and enjoying the warm sun on her skin. It was the middle of summer and she just had a visit home with her family. Every time she goes back she feels more and more disconnected and like a stranger in her own time. This is where she felt at home now. She had gone shopping with her mother and brought back lots of treats for her friends. She always tries to stock up on food and medical supplies but this time she got a little bit extra. They had been venturing for a while this past time and although InuYasha wasn't happy about taking a break for her to visit home, even he had to admit they could use some more supplies. As she approached the village she saw Shippo come running up to her, he jumped up and landed in her arms.

"Kagome! I've missed you so much! How was home?" Shippo said clinging onto her shirt while she wrapped him in a loving hug.

"It was good Shippo, I missed you too!" Kagome said smiling down at her friend, "how was everything while I was gone?"

Shippo shrugged "Same as usual, we relaxed, InuYasha got irritated that we relaxed, ya know, same old-same old."

Kagome laughed "well, I have a surprise for you all!" she said as they crossed the bridge walking into the village.

"What is it?!" He asked excitedly.

"You'll just have to wait and see!" She said with a coy smile.

As they approached the group InuYasha stood, he could smell Kagome from a while away but he knew Shippo wanted to run and greet her, so he stayed in his hut while the little runt ran to his mother-like friend. As InuYasha walked towards the entry way of the hut Miroku and Sango smiled, he always got in such a better mood once Kagome was here. Kagome walked in and Shippo jumped out of her arms and onto the floor. "Kagome has a surprise for us!"

"Well, it's about time you got here! How long did you need over there, we have to get back on the hunt for the jewel shards! Or am I the only one that still cares about that?" InuYasha said, hiding his curiosity for the surprise Kagome had brought.

"Oh hush, I wasn't gone that long, it was only three days. Besides, I do have a surprise for you! For all of you!" Kagome said swinging her backpack around to the front of her and dropping to her knees with her bag laying in her lap. She began to dig in the bag and continued to explain. "I went shopping with my mom and we got each of you something!" She pulled out the first thing, it was a plastic gun "This is for Shippo"

Shippo jumped up grabbing the toy gun, he examined it for a while and said "…thank you" not sure what to do with it. Kagome laughed and took it back from him and pulled out a water bottle, she opened a small tab on the top of the gun and began to pour water in it. Then she pulled the trigger and water came squirting out. Shippo's face illuminated in a bright smile, he took the gun back and started squirting InuYasha. "Thanks Kagome!"

InuYasha looked at Kagome with a disgruntled face "Yeah, thanks Kagome…" he mumbled sarcastically.

"Ok next is Kirara!" Kagome said pulling out a small cat bed, she laid it on the floor and Kirara came up and nestled into it purring.

"Thank you Kagome!" Sango said smiling at Kirara.

"I got something for you too Sango," Kagome said pulling out a long cloth, "this is a style scarf, you can wrap it around you in a bunch of different ways, you can tie it up in your hair or wear it like a normal scarf, wrap it around your chest like a shirt, or even around your waist like a skirt! There's a million things you can do with it. It just looked like something you would enjoy." It was long and black with hot pink streaks that looked like they were painted on the silk material.

Sango took the scarf and smiled at Kagome, "Thank you Kagome, this is really neat!"

Kagome slid her hand back into her bag and pulled out a book, "now this might be a little hard to read but it's a book on meditation and spiritual connections. I thought you'd find it interesting Miroku!"

Miroku smiled as he took the book and began to flip through the pages "Thank you Kagome!"

Kagome looked over at InuYasha and saw him sitting in the corner, arms crossed impatient as ever. "Well, I guess that does it…"

"What about my surprise?" InuYasha said standing up "Don't tell me you forgot about me?!"

Kagome laughed slyly "No surprises for whiners"

"Who's whining?!" He said with his frown going crooked.

Kagome rolled her eyes and pulled out a long chain with a small pendent on the end. On the pendent there was a beautiful tree engraved. Its branches twisted and turned and there were leaves hanging off them that looked like they were bending in the wind. InuYasha didn't understand his gift and looked up at Kagome awaiting an explanation.

"I know it's not much, but the tree on it reminded me of you and of the sacred tree, and everything." Kagome looked up with big hopeful eyes. It was always hard opening up to him but sometimes he let her in.

"Oh, um, thank you" InuYasha said looking down at it, trying to be grateful for the gift he held.

Kagome's face dropped from hopeful to 'seriously?' she reached into the bag and pulled out another water gun and handed it to InuYasha "Here, I got you this too" she said flatly.

InuYasha's face lit up and he took the gun and started filling it with water "You're in for it now Shippo!"

In his haste to go get Shippo soaked with his newly loaded water gun, he dropped the necklace on the ground. Kagome picked it up and put it in her pocket and looked around at her friends, Kirara napping in her new bed while Sango played with the wrap; trying it on in different ways. Miroku was sitting by the fire with his book and Shippo and InuYasha were going at it outside taking turns squirting each other. Kagome sat down and smiled, at least everyone was happy, and for once everything was going okay.

They decided to stay one more night and leave in the morning, they began to travel early. With no real direction their quest to find Naraku felt like the blind leading the blind. As they walked along a path Kagome smelled the salty air breeze past her soft cheeks. "Hey are we close to the beach?" She asked looking around "Maybe we should take a break"

InuYasha turned around with a serious face, "no, we just took a break at Kaede's village."

"Come on InuYasha, we don't have any lead, and there's a change being in one place for a while might help us." Miroku said

"That doesn't even make any sense" InuYasha said as he kept walking forward.

"I vote beach!" Shippo said raising his hand.

"Me too" Said Sango.

InuYasha turned around and saw everyone standing there together. It was clear he lost this battle. "fine." He said lowly with a look of defeat.

Everyone smiled big and started walking in the direction of the coast. As they came upon the sand, everyone took off their shoes and let the sand go between their toes. It was a well-deserved mini vacation and they all intended on taking every advantage. Kagome pulled out a big bag and some sticks from her backpack. "I brought this just in case we needed it, really I thought we might need it for rain, but the sun on the beach works too!" After setting up a spacious tent she placed the backpack inside and her and Sango zipped it up from the inside. "I have an extra swim suit if you need one." Kagome said pulling out her green bikini.

"Um, if you just have bottoms, that'd work. I can use the wrap you gave me for a top." Sango said, she liked that her friend was always willing to share, but the clothes from Kagome's time tended to be a little too revealing for Sango's comfort. She slid on pink booty short like swim bottoms and then tied the black wrap around her like a halter top.

As they stepped out they saw the boys were already down to their shorts. They all started running to the water, splashing and playing with each other, Shippo and InuYasha got some good use out of their water guns. After a while Kagome laid out in the sun and InuYasha and Miroku were rough housing in the water. Sango was sitting at the edge of the shore watching Shippo jump from rock to rock looking into the water and playing with Kirara. She saw Shippo jump and then stop playing. He stared into the water with his head turned. Then a splash came up and Sango saw a girl's head, she immediately got to her feet "Shippo?"

Kagome lifted her head and saw Shippo talking to a girl in the water. Kagome slowly walked over and saw the girl clearer as she approached Shippo, she knelt down. "Well hello! What's your name?"

The young girl looked about thirteen, as she tucked her wavy brown hair behind her ear she said "My name is Azalea" she blinked her big green eyes up at Kagome.

"Azalea, what are you doing here?" Kagome asked concerned for the girl's safety without an adult around for her.

Azalea looked confused "I live here, what are you doing here?" She asked in return.

Kagome looked around confused "You live where?"

Azalea laughed now understanding her confusion she swam backwards and revealed a bright blue tail "I live in the ocean!"

Kagome looked with shock "You're a mermaid?!"

Sango, InuYasha and Miroku had now made their way over to them. "What's going on?" Sango asked

"This is Azalea, she's a mermaid!" Said Kagome excited.

"Well that's neat" Smiled Sango down at Azalea.

"Do you always hang out here Azalea?" Shippo asked

"Sometimes, my mom doesn't mind as long as I'm home when I say I'm going to be." Azalea shrugged.

After a while of talking and getting to know each other Kagome sensed something, a jewel shared. She looked up sharply. InuYasha picked up on her look immediately.

"Where is it?" He said standing up

"It's coming toward us from over there" Kagome said pointing to a spot in the open ocean. From where Kagome was pointing something jumped out of the water and then back in, much like a dolphin.

"That's my mom!" Said Azalea smiling big towards her mother.


	2. Chapter 2 - Meet Waverly

Chapter 2 – Meet Waverly

A Woman swam up next to Azalea "Honey, who are your friends?" she asked

Azalea turned around to face the group of her new friends "Everyone, this is my mom Waverly."

Waverly had long curly strawberry blonde hair with big blue eyes. Her skin was fair with a soft glow shining from her. Her top was made of two white sea shells and she had layers of pearls strewn around neck and arms. She had small twisted sea shells for earrings and a teal tail.

As Azalea introduced her to everyone InuYasha narrowed his eyes looking for the jewel shard, it did not take him long to see it dangling from her necklace. "Had over the jewel shard and no one gets hurt." He said bluntly standing up. This took everyone by surprise, even the mermaids.

"The what?" she asked looking scared and taking her daughter in her arms.

"InuYasha, hang on. You can't just go demanding things from people!" Kagome said waving for him to sit down.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand" Waverly said with her hand on her chest.

"The gem on your necklace is a shard from a jewel we've been looking for, where did you find it?" Kagome asked calmly.

"Oh this?" Waverly said picking it up "Azalea found it one day, she made it into a necklace for me" She slid it off her neck "But if it is important to you, you may have it." She handed the necklace over "Azalea makes me lots of things."

Kagome took it and put the shard in her jar. "Thank you."

"Hey Kagome, you think there might be more in the ocean?" Sango asked. The group looked out at the wide ocean.

"I guess it's a possibility but how could we find all those?" Kagome looked down at her jar, was there a way?

"What's so important about these jewels?" The mermaid asked.

"Wait, you really don't know?" Miroku asked.

Sango looked over at him "well, I suppose the jewel is for demons so, it probably doesn't affect mermaids. Right?" She turned to Waverly.

Waverly shrugged "I don't know but if you guys really need to look, I can help."

"Thanks but we can't ask you to search the whole ocean" Kagome said

"Unless you want to" InuYasha finished while Kagome nudged him for the comment.

"Oh I wasn't suggesting that, I can turn you call into mer-people for the time being." She said smiling.

The group looked at her confused

"You can do that?" Sango asked knowing that's what everyone was thinking.

"Yes, mermaids have an incredible gift of magic. However, this transformation will not be permanent and it could be a little painful." Waverly said explaining.

"Painful?" Kagome repeated worried.

"Well, yeah. Your bones are literally transforming from legs to fins." She explained.

"How long will it last?" Sango asked

"I'm not entirely sure, it depends on how your body adapts to the magic and how well the mermaid is at magic. For example, my spell would last longer than Azaleas because I'm more advanced, but a demon might hold onto the spell longer than a human. Or a human with a strong connection to spirituality would last longer than a human who does not." She explained

"Okay, so let's do this." InuYasha said standing up "If there's jewel shards down there we need to get going."

Everyone looked at each other and nodded, this had to be done.

"Okay who's first?" Waverly asked pulling herself on a rock sitting with just the tip of her tail in the water.

Kagome went to step forward and InuYasha stepped in front of her "Let me and Miroku go first, she said this would be painful."

"Okay, stand here and when I say go jump into the air" Waverly said pointing to a rock that looked like a perfect place to dive. "There is a deep hole under it, you need to swim until you feel comfortable. It will hurt."

InuYasha nodded and walked up to the rock and got ready to jump, kneeling down with his eyebrows narrowed.

Waverly raised her arms "NOW!"

As InuYasha jumped into the air Waverly extended her arms out in his direction and a yellow glow flowed from her arms to surround him. She had her eyes focus in concentration watching him fall into the water. He emerged screaming, but began to swim and went under again. He emerged a second time "Hey, it's not so bad. It just hurts for like a second!" He jumped into the air showing his new red tail, he swam up to the group.

"You still have your white hair and dog ears" Sango inquired, "I just it doesn't take away your demon abilities."

"Alright Miroku you're next!" InuYasha yelled.

Miroku nodded and got into position, "ready when you are Waverly."

Waverly raised her arms "NOW!" the same glow extended from her arms again. But this time Miroku screamed immediately and landed into the water.

As Miroku sat under the water he could feel his bones breaking and moving, what was InuYasha talking about this, this is unbelievably painful! He then remembered what Waverly said to do and started to swim, as his body began to swim he felt better. The cold ocean water was helping with the pain. It didn't hurt so bad, he did a few turns, it didn't hurt at all! He popped his head up "InuYasha was right, it hurts really bad at first but once you swim its better!" Miroku went under again and jumped up showing off his new purple tail.

Waverly smiled and turned to the girls "who's next?"

Sango and Kagome looked at each other.

"I'll go first" Kagome said

"Are you sure?" Sango asked worried about her friend getting hurt.

"I'm sure" Kagome nodded, "Besides InuYasha is right there" she handed Shippo to Sango and walked up to the rock "I'm ready"

Waverly raised her hands "NOW!"

Kagome jumped and as soon as the light hit her she screamed in pain and fell into the water. The pain was overwhelming, she just sank lower.

"Kagome!" Sango yelled standing.

InuYasha panicked "I'll get her!"

"NO!" Waverly yelled "she has to swim on her own, if you pull her or even touch her, you could really hurt her! She has to do it herself"

InuYasha looked over at Kagome with worried anger. 'Come on Kagome, swim!' he thought to himself over and over.

Finally, the group saw Kagome's head appear she was still swimming and went under again. She popped up again and smiled at them "just like you guys said" She then went under and did a jump showing her new green tail and swam over beside InuYasha and Miroku. "ready Sango?"

Sango put down Shippo and pet Kirara on the head. She went over to the rock and nodded "ready"

Waverly raised her arms again "NOW!"

Sango leaped into the air and screamed in pain as the light hit her. She crashed into the water and was down for a few seconds before emerging, she waved and went back under. When she jumped into the air everyone saw her pink tail and she swam to the rest of the group. " Okay Shippo, you're turn" InuYasha said.

Shippo looked at the group in fear "but…but…I'm just a kid…"

"Shippo I promise it only hurts for a second, just remember to swim" Kagome said looking into his eyes.

Shippo nodded and went to the rock

Waverly raised her arms "ready?"

Shippo nodded thinking to himself 'no'

"NOW!" She yelled raising her arms

Shippo jumped and balled up, as he was hit with the light he flinched. As he fell into the water he felt the pain around his legs. He started swimming as he felt his tail form. He did circles until he didn't feel any more pain and jumped into the air showing his new small orange tail.

Kirara walked up to Sango and tilted her head in confusion.

"What about Kirara?" Sango asked Waverly "I can't leave her"

"I can turn her into a fish, but it will still hurt and she will still have to swim."

Sango nodded and looked at Kirara "go to the rock and jump when she saw to, okay?"

Kirara nodded

"It's gonna hurt and you're gonna have to swim, okay?" Sango continued

Kirara nodded again and turned to walk to the rock.

Waverly raised her arms one last time "NOW!"

Kirara jumped into the air

The light wrapped around her and she fell into the water. When she emerged everyone saw a beautiful white and black fish with yellow eyes.

"Kirara?" Sango said smiling at her.

The new fish swam up and circled around Sango as she laughed.

"Alright, like I said I'm not sure how long this will last, so let's get started." Waverly said sliding back into the water.

"How did you find the shard before Azalea?" Shippo asked

"Well, I just saw something pink shinning from the sand and when I picked it up it looked like a pretty gem" She explained.

"Good thing Kagome can sense the shards too, that'll help us a lot" Miroku said.

"Should we split up? We can meet back here at sun down" Waverly said

"I think that'll help but how will we be able keep from getting lost?" Kagome asked

"I'll go with one group and my Azalea will go with the other." Waverly said looking at her daughter.

Azalea smiled and nodded "I know this place inside and out, and I can show you where I found the other one!"

"okay, who is gonna go with who?" Waverly asked looking at the group.

"Sango, Shippo and myself will go with Azalea. InuYasha, why don't you and Kagome go with Waverly." Miroku suggested.

"Sounds good to me" InuYasha said.


	3. Chapter 3 - Enter Kouga

Chapter 3 – Enter Kouga

In a dark castle, in a hidden location in the sky Naraku sits waiting for his spies to return. As one of the demon hornets fly into the castle he turns his attention to it. He stares at it for a small amount of time. "So, there's jewel shards in the ocean. Interesting. Kagura, come here"

Kagura walked into the room "what is it?" she asked with spite.

"Is that anyway to treat someone who controls your very life?" he taunted

"What can I do for you Naraku" She said bowing her head.

"It seems our band of misfits have turned themselves into mermaids to find jewel shards in the ocean." He said looking out his window

Kagura lifted her head "What?"

"So I will need you to go down there and distract them. I will send aquatic demons to retrieve the jewel shards." He said still looking out the window.

Kagura walked up to him "And how do you want me to do that? Shouldn't I just kill them and collect the jewel shards they have?"

He laughed "yes, that would be an obvious solution, however, you have proven time and time again you are unable to do so. The mermaid that is showing them around has a daughter, take her, distract InuYasha."

Kagura looked out the window at the ocean below them "And how am I supposed to get her?"

Naraku took her by the through and a black magic moved from his arm to her body. He then broke the window and dropped her.

As Kagura fell screaming she felt the pain of all the bones in her legs breaking. She fell into the water and tossed and turned staying in one place screaming in pain. She looked down and saw her tail forming it was a murky green color, the color kept running up her legs and up her stomach. Her eyes grew wide 'WHAT DID HE DO TO ME?!' she thought. She held out her arms and saw the green travel down to her fingers, small fish like fins grew from her elbows and her fingers began to web together. She felt gills appear on her neck and her hair fell out of its clip surrounding her face. She looked like an entirely different person. She looked around and heard a familiar voice. She hid behind a giant coral.

Sango and Miroku were swimming just a little bit behind Shippo and Azalea. Azalea was leading them to where she found the last jewel shard. "It was just over there, I started seeing it from about here though."

Kagura showed herself to them opening her arms and an evil grin. They didn't even recognize her, her skin was now scaly and dark shades of green, her face was that of a sea creature. "where's InuYasha?" She said in a dark rough voice, apparently the gills changed her voice as well.

"Who are you?!" Miroku called, placing a hand over his arm, about to open the wind tunnel.

"Mioku no! Look around you!" Sango said looking around at all the fish around them, "These are like Kirara, and who knows what'll happen if you take in this amount of water"

Kagura laughed "No matter, I'm sure he'll show up" She wrapped her arms around Azalea and took off and an incredible speed.

"Azalea!" Sango called out

They tried to follow her but Kagura was far too fast.

"What do we do now?" Shippo asked

"We get InuYasha" Miroku said with narrowed eyes.

They began to swim back to the meeting point, not knowing where they went.

They saw Waverly, Kagome and InuYasha approaching just as the sun was going down. Waverly's face immediately went from a smile to a frown "Where's Azalea?"

"This sea demon came out of nowhere and grabbed her!" Shippo yelled.

"What?!" Waverly yelled looking all around, her hands frantically running through her hair and her fingers nervously moving in her palm. "What sea demon?!"

"It was a green creature, I'm not sure what it was, it looked like it might've been a mermaid, but it wasn't" Sango said sadly

"We tried to swim after her but we weren't fast enough" Miroku explained

"Take me to where she was taken! NOW!" Waverly said panicked.

Kagome put an arm around her "Don't worry we'll find her and we'll get her back."

Miroku and Sango lead the group in the direction where she was taken.

Waverly looked around but found no clue, "I don't understand"

"The demon did say something about InuYasha…It wanted you" Miroku said looking over at him

"How would I know any sea demons?" InuYasha said crossing his arms.

Kagome looked over and saw Waverly sitting on a coral cliff that Kagura was previously hiding behind. "Don't worry Waverly, we'll get her back. I promise."

Then everyone turned to Sango who began to groan in pain.

"Sango! What's wrong?" Miroku said swimming up to her.

"My fin….aaaahhhhgggg!" She began to yell in pain. Her fin started to dissipate and her legs were starting to go back to their original shape.

"We have to get her to air!" Waverly said swimming upward

Miroku grabbed Sango, at that moment Sango felt the water start to engulf her ability to breath. They were all swimming up as fast as they could. As soon as they reached the top Sango head broke through the surface gasping for air.

"Come we must get you all to the nearest beach" Waverly said swimming towards the shore.

Everyone followed her and they swam up until they were able to sit in the sand with only their fins covered.

"Are you okay Sango?" Miroku asked with his hand wrapped around her.

"Yeah I'm fine now." She said looking down at her legs.

Suddenly Kagome started gripping in pain.

"Kagome!" InuYasha yelled grabbing her hand, knowing there's nothing he can do.

"would moving help? Like it did before?" Miroku asked

"No, I'm sorry, I know it is painful." Waverly said.

(Small authors note: I feel it's important to mention that they were in swim bottoms when they transformed and the bottoms reappear when their legs come back.)

Further in the forest outside the beach Kouga was walking with his two best men. "Alright, I think this would be a good place to stop for a while."

"Thank you Kouga!" Ginta and Hakkaku said simultaneously sitting down.

Just at that moment a wind blew carrying a sweet sent past Kouga's nose. "Kagome." There was no mistaking it, he took off in the direction his nose pointed him.

"Kouga!" they yelled after him, they both groaned rising to their feet and began to ran after him.

"Are you okay now Kagome?" Mioku asked concerned, still holding Sango.

Kagome nodded looking at her now human legs.

"I don't understand, me and Miroku were changed first." InuYasha said, assuming his question was implied.

"Yes but remember it may have a different time frame for different people. The safest bet is to wait here until you are all changed. I will be back in the morning if you all wish to continue your search for the jewels." Waverly said with sadness still in her tone.

"What do you mean?" Sango asked

"We can't let you go face this demon on your own" Kagome finished.

"I must, it would be dangerous for you to come and she needs me"

"But you don't even know who has her" Miroku said

"I have an assumption" Waverly said looking out towards the ocean

The group looked surprised, but before they could ask another question a harsh wind blew and Kouga was there. Waverly looked shocked and just starred in fear, mermaids welcome humans and strangers but are taught at a young age to fear demons, especially land demons. She wasn't fearful of InuYasha or Shippo because they were obviously interacting well with the humans when she met them. This demon however just appeared out of no where.

Kouga walked up to the group in the water and sat in the middle of the circle sitting in front of Kagome grabbing her arms "Kagome I smelled you and thought I'd stop by to say hey" he said with a tilted smile.

Obviously this demon was friends with Kagome a human, so he is a harmless demon like the others.

Kouga took immediate notice to the boys fins and started to laugh "What happened?" He couldn't hold in his laughter in the slightest and fell over laughing, his head landing in Waverly's lap. He looked up when he caught his breath and made eye contact with Waverly. Their blue eyes connected and a cool tingle went down both of their backs. Kouga immediately turned the right way up. "Who are you?"

Waverly smiled, she got a huge lump in her throat.

"This is Waverly! She turned us into mer-people to help us find the jewel shards!" Shippo said, which immediately got him a dirty look from InuYasha.

"That's nice" Kouga said almost hypnotized by the woman in front of him.

Miroku then began to groan and Sango took his hand. He gritted his teeth and squeezed her hand. This didn't even phase Kouga or Waverly, they just continued to stare at each other.

"But then her daughter was taken by a sea demon" Shippo said looking down, which now got him a pound on the head from InuYasha.

Waverly's eyes dropped immediately at the mention of her daughter. Kouga turned around and looked at the small fox "What?" He then turned to Waverly confused. He stood up and walked over to the shore and sat down starring at the moon.

By this time Miroku's legs were back to normal and everyone was looking at Waverly for an explanation, but it didn't look like she had one. She just had sadness written all over her face.

Kagome stood up "I'm gonna go talk to him"

"Wait! What?!" InuYasha said unable to stand.

Kagome walked over and sat down by Kouga "What was all that about?"

"I'm sorry Kagome, it must've been hard for you to see me staring at another woman that way." Kouga said still starring at the moon

"Kouga, I love InuYasha, it didn't hurt me at all. But why did you walk away like that?" Kagome asked looking at him intensely.

Kouga broke his stare with the moon and looked at her seriously. "She's already mated."

Kagome looked over at Waverly, she hadn't mention a mate, but we didn't give her much time. "Well it's okay, you've been hung up on me for a while but you knew that I loved InuYasha."

"This is different." He said breaking eye contact and resuming his stare at the moon. "She's my soul mate"

Kagome's eyes opened wide "how do you know?"

"Demons have this sense, when you meet your soul mate you become entranced by them and then feel a cool chill go down your back, but you feel warm all at the same time. I thought you were my soul mate and I just didn't feel it because you were human." Kouga explained.

"But Waverly isn't a demon, we've already figured out mermaids are something different." Kagome said confused.

"Apparently it doesn't matter, and she's already mated." Kouga said looking down.

"But maybe he's no longer around, maybe they broke up or he passed away. You don't know if you don't talk to her." Kagome said with a hopeful smile.

"Kagome, a wolf cannot mate with someone who is already mated. We just don't. Even if they are no longer mated does not matter. We mate for life so we honor all mattings as if they are for life as well." Kouga said.

"But again, you chased me and I was taken…" Kagome said

"You are not mated. Although both InuYasha and I chased you, neither of us took claim." Kouga said. "But now that I have met my soul mate, I have no feelings for anyone else. It was like everything I felt for you, just washed away."

Although Kagome was never in love with Kouga that still stung a little. "Well, then maybe there's a chance."

Kouga looked at Kagome and nodded, they then heard InuYasha grunting and screaming. His legs were finally returning.

"Does it really hurt that bad?" Kouga asked sitting down in the circle across from Waverly

InuYasha looked up and grunted out "Want me to show you how bad it hurts?!"

"Geez, no need to get hostile" Kouga said crossing his arms.

InuYasha took a deep breath and looked at Shippo and Kirara "How come they haven't changed yet?"

Waverly shrugged "I guess full demons can hold onto the magic longer…"

InuYasha's face twisted in an annoyed stare as Shippo and Kouga laughed together.

"So Waverly, who do you think kidnapped Azalea?" Shippo asked

Waverly looked out to the ocean again "Her father."


	4. Chapter 4 - Azalea's Father

Chapter 4 – Azaleas Father

The group had all changed back to their original forms, InuYasha and Miroku made a camp fire outside Kagome's tent. Although it was on another beach, InuYasha was able to go find it and the backpack. Everyone was sitting around the fire, thinking about the story they were just told about Azalea's father.

When Waverly was younger, about Azalea's age, a merman by the name of Ahriman tried to court her. She was uninterested and turned him down time and time again. Finally, he became enraged at his endless efforts and failing every time. He took her away and imprisoned her, telling her she would only see her family again if she accepted him as her groom. She refused and he kept her away for months, all to himself. She refused to acknowledge him, fighting every step of the way. The more evil he got, the more he resembled a green sea monster. Eventually he had the idea to take her by force, and make her mate with him. That night she put up the biggest fight of her life and lost. Luckily after mating the merman must sleep off the energy he just spent. After the fight he just had to go through to mate he was exhausted, once he was asleep Waverly was able to escape. She swam as fast as she could, although she did not return to her home. She feared that he would come looking for her again one day, so she decided to always be on the move. Soon realizing she was pregnant she had a decision to make. She could've easily aborted the pregnancy with her magic, and never think twice but something inside her wouldn't let her. Mermaids give birth much like dolphins, and after giving birth to her daughter, Waverly gazed down at her and brought her to the surface. As the sun was setting on that day she looked over and saw a beautiful azalea sitting alone on the shore. Normally Azaleas grow in bunches but this one was all by itself, just like them. That's where she got the name Azalea. As they traveled Ahriman followed, they finally were able to lose him.

The group starred at the fire still soaking in the new information about their friend. Kagome looked at Kouga, who seemed to be tortured by this information. It didn't seem fair, was Waverly technically mated if it was against her will? Would they now both be alone forever? Can't Kouga make an exception? There had to be something she could do.

"Alright we should get some rest if we are going to get back to rescuing Azalea by tomorrow." InuYasha said.

Everyone nodded in agreeance and Sango, Miroku, and Kagome got into their tent. Shippo followed and cuddled with Kagome like Kirara did with Sango. InuYasha and Kouga were sitting outside the tent, and Waverly was sitting in the water out of hearing range starring out at the ocean.

"So what was all that about earlier?" InuYasha inquired

As Kouga explained InuYasha felt a twinge of happiness learning that Kouga no longer had feelings for Kagome. "Well, I don't see the problem." InuYasha said trying to convince Kouga "She wasn't technically mated, she was raped." If he could convince Kouga to mate with Waverly, he might not have to ever deal with him again. "I would go for it if I were you"

"You're not a wolf…" Kouga said looking at Waverly sitting in the water.

"So you're gonna do nothing?" InuYasha asked.

"I don't know" Kouga said. "The rules don't really have specifics like this in them."

Then InuYasha got an idea. "Well, if you're not gonna do anything, maybe I'll talk to her"

"What? Why?" Kouga asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, I mean, she is technically single…and technically so am I…" InuYasha said, Kouga was still just starring at him, so InuYasha stood up and Kouga immediately got to his feet and narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think so! And how could you do that to Kagome?!" Kouga said stepping in front of him.

InuYasha smirked and Kouga knew what he had just done. Of course InuYasha wasn't interested in Waverly, but this showed Kouga how much he was.

"oh" Kouga said turning out to look at Waverly. He didn't say anything else, he just walked out to her.

InuYasha smiled, he had done something good and that gave him a good feeling inside, but he was mostly happy that Kouga's courtship of Kagome is finally over.

Kouga sat down next to Waverly looking out to the ocean like she was. "We'll find her." He said reassuring.

"I hope she's okay." Waverly said, feeling guilty she wasn't out there right now.

"You should get some sleep." Kouga said

"Oh mermaids hardly sleep; we only need an hour or two…" She said looking down "I don't think could sleep anyways"

Kouga was surprised, she only needed a few hours of sleep like a demon. He turned and looked at her, she was still looking down at the water softly waving over her fin. Kouga took his loose fist and gently tilted her head to look at him. "Waverly, did you…feel anything earlier? When we met?"

Waverly's face immediately went red "Um, I don't…" She said embarrassed, how could he have known about that?"

Kouga dropped his hand "I'm sorry, it's nothing" he said turning away.

Waverly placed her hand on his and said "I did, but I'm not sure what it was"

"Like you were cold and warm at the same time, like suddenly the earth stopped moving." Kouga said, expressing his emotions.

Waverly's eyes opened wide "Exactly"

"Wolves have a code of honor when it comes to mates. That feeling indicates to us that we've met our soul mates. Wolves mate for life, and cannot mate anyone who has been already mated." He explained.

Waverly looked down. She was already used, he wanted something new.

Kouga picked her face up again "But I don't care." He leaned in and kissed her. They both felt a cool breeze flow around them, the tingly feeling from earlier was intensified.

Waverly didn't understand how she could feel this strong for someone this quickly, especially during her current crisis of trying to rescue her daughter. As the kiss released they looked at each other in the eyes, Kouga picked up on her emotions immediately, as if their blood ran together now. He knew how confused she was. The most important thing right now was getting Azalea.

The next morning everyone woke up and Kouga watched Waverly transform everyone again to their merperson selves. He then walked up and got ready to jump and she transformed him. He did as he was instructed swimming to relieve the pain. He had a brown tail and took off his top armor leaving him shirtless like the other men. The all swam down to the place they were before and looked around where Sango said Azalea was kidnapped. InuYasha and Kouga tried to sniff around but it was impossible to pick up a scent in the ocean, and on top of that they didn't know what Azaleas father smelled like.

"We'll have to go to his house" Waverly said "If he's still even there."

Everyone followed her in silence, Kouga swam beside her, followed by InuYasha and Kagome and the rest after them. Kagome looked in awe of the two of them, it was like overnight they got this amazing connection. She looked over at InuYasha who seemed to have known what was going on, she'd ask him later. After a while of swimming they came to a cave. They were pretty deep and it was dark, Waverly opened her hands and a glow formed a ball of light between them. She moved the ball of light to the top of a stick of coral from the ground. She made six, so that everyone but Shippo and Kirara had one. Shippo stayed between Kagome and InuYasha and Kirara between Sango and Miroku.

The cave looked abandoned, there was no sign that anyone had been here in years. Waverly looked terrified, which Kouga felt immediately and moved closer to her side. "Is this the first time you've been back since…" he said not know how to finish the sentence.

Waverly nodded, then sighed "I was afraid of this, he's not here."

They left the cave and started swimming away looking for any clue. Then Shippo saw something shine from the sand "What's that?"

"Is it a jewel shard?" Sango asked

"I didn't sense anything" said Kagome

Mioku swam to it and his face went straight when he saw what it was. He pulled it out and showed the group. It was a hair comb.

"Kagura" Kouga said with narrowed eyes.

"who?" Waverly asked getting more confused.

"Kagura, she's a demon from the land." Shippo answered.

"Could she be teamed up with Ahriman?" Kagome asked

"It's possible," Waverly started "But he's never really joined up with anyone before"

"No. This has Naraku written all over it" InuYasha said

"That would explain why the demon knew your name. Naraku must've changed Kagura into a sea monster." Sango added. "It was her"


	5. Chapter 5 - Face Off

Chapter 5 – Face Off

They swam around calling out her name knowing she'd show herself eventually. Kouga was enraged, first Naraku slaughters his pack, and now he takes Waverly's daughter. There was no reason for either, but to get InuYasha's attention. Naraku would pay for hurting the innocent. Finally they heard a dark laugh and Kagura showed herself.

Sango was the first to speak "Kagura, where's Azalea?!"

"You recognize me now, do you?" Kagura laughed again.

Waverly went darting at her "WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!"

Kagura laughed and reached behind her for her feather. It was gone. Her hand went to her waist, so was her fan. Waverly crashed into her and placed her hands on Kagura's chest and a glow emerged. Everyone stood in awe, not sure what to do. No one brought any weapons, unsure of their effectiveness in water. Kagura got away from her and began to swim. Kouga immediately caught her by the fin and dragged her back. Kagura went to go swipe at him but her claws were replaced with webbed fingers. InuYasha grabbed her arms and they stretched her out. Waverly swam up to her with a cold look on her face.

"If you kill me you'll never find your daughter" Kagura spat at her.

Waverly placed her hand on Kagura's forehead, as Kagura squirmed to try to break free a light shined from under her hand. Then Waverly smiled, "I know where she is" She then took her hand off her fore head and moved both palms, one above her head and one above her fin. "As for you, you are done down here." The light encompassed Kagura.

Sango and Kagome watched in amazement, waiting to see how Waverly was going to kill her. Then the light that surrounded Kagura dimmed and Waverly instructed the men to let her go.

"Swim" She said "Now"

Kagura started to swim and everyone saw her. She wasn't the green creature anymore. She was a mermaid, with a red and white tail. Her hair flowed around her. "What did you do to me?" she asked genuinely.

"You're free. The spell will wear off eventually, it shouldn't be too long. When you transform back to yourself, your heart beat will still be there. He has no more control over you. But you are to not return to the sea. Understand?" Waverly said.

Kagura was confused to say the least. She had just stolen this woman's daughter, but she helped her. She thought it was best not to question it, she nodded and swam away.

"Why did you do that?" Kouga asked, upset with her kindness.

"She was following orders; her life was being used against her. Although I am angry, it is not her I am angry with." Waverly said starting to swim away "Let's go get Azalea."

The group followed Waverly still shocked at what happened with Kagura, then they came up on another cave. It was similar to the cave they went to before but there was magic glow lights illuminating the cave.

"Azalea?" Waverly called out

"Mom?! MOM! I'm back here!" She yelled back

Waverly turned around a corner in the cave and saw her daughter. She was in a steel cage with rust on all the bars. There was a key hole but no key in sight. Waverly turned around and saw her friends looking at her waiting for instruction. She couldn't use magic and risk hurting Azalea, she turned to look at the bars again and back at her new friends "Help me get her out" She said, turning back to her daughter. She put her arm through the bars.

"Azalea are you alright?" She asked placing her hand on her check

"Yes, she didn't do anything to me. Just locked me in here." Azalea said placing her hand over her mother's that was caressing her check.

"Step back" InuYasha said raising his hand.

Waverly moved in front of the cage with her arms extended, "What are you going to do?"

"Break it open" InuYasha said rolling his arm and holding his shoulder

"It won't hurt her will it?" Waverly said

"um….no?" InuYasha said not actually sure.

"I don't think so" Kouga said getting in between InuYasha and the cage

Waverly looked at him get protective of her daughter, she smiled at him with a soft smile and gentle eyes. Azalea picked up on this and looked back and forth at the two of them. It was clear she missed something.

"What's your plan?" InuYasha said folding his arms

Kouga turned around and looked at the cage, what was he gonna do? He looked down at his fin, there's a chance… he doesn't have his legs but the jewel shards are still there.

"Azalea, move to the side." Kouga said waving his hand for her to step aside, he nodded at Waverly "I won't hurt her. I promise."

She trusted him and both mermaids moved to the side. Then Kouga turned around and began to bang his fin against the steel. The bars began to bend and give way.

"It's working!" Kagome said

Kouga kicked harder, finally the bars broke from where he was hitting and there was an opening just big enough for Azalea to swim through. She swam right up to her mom and wrapped her in a hug. Waverly squeezed her tight. When she finally let go Azalea turned and hugged Kouga, they both saw the scars and bruises on his fin from the rescue.

"Thank you" Azalea said.

As she hugged him Kouga realized he was silly forever questioning his feelings for Waverly. As he hugged her he smiled up at Waverly and she smiled back at him.

THE END

A/N – Sorry this wound up being a short story, I was really inspired in the beginning and then I decided to end it before it started phoning it in. I do have an idea to continue with a sequel that may come soon. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. If you have ideas for the sequel, I'd love to hear them! I realize this isn't my best story, but if you liked these please check out "Hope and Change" and "Bruises on a Woman".


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